WhatsApp campaigns — templates, approval, and blasts

How WhatsApp is different

WhatsApp only delivers pre-approved template messages to people who haven't messaged you in the last 24 hours. There is no free-text composer: every blast sends a template that Meta (WhatsApp's operator) has reviewed and approved. Recipients who reply STOP are excluded automatically.

Find it under Marketing & Outreach → WhatsApp. The WhatsApp channel requires platform approval — the Pledgix team enables it per campaign (it's part of the Marketing & Outreach suite, available by default on Pledgix Pro and Political plans).

Requesting a template

Open the Templates view and click Request template:

• Template name — a short label like "Event reminder".
• Language — English, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, or French.
• Message text — up to 1,024 characters. Use Insert variable to add numbered placeholders ({{1}}, {{2}}, …) that get filled per recipient at send time.
• Sample values — one per placeholder; Meta's reviewers see the message with these filled in.

Keep the wording factual and calm, and say why the recipient is getting the message. Exclamation marks, emoji, and promotional phrasing can get a template reclassified as marketing content, which WhatsApp blocks to US numbers. Templates cannot be edited after submission — to change one, request a new version. Each campaign can hold up to 25 templates.

The approval lifecycle

Each template shows a status pill:

• Not submitted — created but not yet sent for review (resubmit or delete it).
• In review — waiting on Meta. Review usually takes minutes, sometimes hours. Use Refresh status to check.
• Approved — ready to send.
• Rejected — Meta declined it; the rejection reason appears under the template. Delete it and request a corrected version.
• Paused — Meta paused a previously approved template.

Only Approved templates appear in the composer. Rejected, paused, and unsubmitted templates can be deleted from the Templates view.

Sending a blast

The composer walks three stages — Audience, Message, Review & send:

1. Audience — choose Teams (your team leaders' phone numbers), Manual (paste numbers), or Excel (upload an .xlsx whose columns can fill template placeholders). Manual and Excel require the one-time Open Recipients approval — see Texting beyond your team roster.
2. Message — pick an approved template, then map each placeholder to static text, the recipient's name, a team variable (team name, page link, code, campaign name, or donation link), or an Excel column. A live phone preview shows the finished message.
3. Review & send — a checklist confirms template, variables, and recipients, then Send to N queues the blast in the background.

To send later, use Schedule for later — times are picked in your campaign's timezone. A scheduled blast shows a Cancel button in History until the moment it starts sending; once sending begins it can no longer be cancelled.

Tracking delivery

History shows each blast as Pending, Scheduled, Sending, Sent, Partial, Failed, or Cancelled. Open a blast for per-recipient statuses: Sent, Delivered, Read (WhatsApp read receipts are tracked), Failed, DNC (on the Do Not Call list), or Opted out. Blocked and opted-out recipients are compliance skips, not failures — the detail view reports how many were skipped and why.

Tip: Request your templates well before the day you plan to send. Approval is usually fast, but a rejection means writing and submitting a new version.

Related articles

• Texting beyond your team roster (Open SMS Recipients)
• Text-message keywords — STOP, START, and HELP
• Tracking delivery — sent, delivered, failed